You are here:

Past Senior Project Topics

Archer, Carmin

Reader: John Hartman

Home remedies have always been a part of human culture. Some of
these home remedies have gone on to influence modern medicine.
Garlic has been a useful home remedy, and it was recently
investigated to contain, among its vast properties powerful
antimicrobial abilities. Further investigation showed that garlic
contained a compound called allicin which is a retardant of many
microorganisms. Strawberries have also been identified as
possessing antimicrobial properties. Extracts from strawberry have
been shown to contain inhibitory effect on various organisms.

The aim of my project is to investigate whether combining
strawberries and garlic has a cumulative effect on the
antimicrobial properties of each. Microorganisms will be chosen at
random and the antimicrobial effect of a solution of garlic and
strawberry versus garlic alone and strawberry only will be compared
by using the zone of inhibition of each solution as a measurement
of antimicrobial capabilities. The results will be presented in
various forms especially using line graphs.

Cain, Amanda

Mentor: Tom Zimmerer

Reader: Lynn Wilson

This is an interdisciplinary project involving the fields of
business and entrepreneurship. My objective in this venture is to
construct a business plan for the bakery I aspire to own and run
after I graduate from Saint Leo University. I intend to complete a
business plan check list given to me by one of my mentors and
develop different designs for what I want my bakery to look like
aesthetically.

My intended result for this study is to walk away with a near
fallible plan for my future business. I also hope to gain a greater
understanding of what it takes to build a business from the ground
up and what I will need in order to ensure my business can operate
successfully and efficiently.

Opening and running a business is probably one of the most
challenging ventures a person can take on; it is also something
that intrigues and excites me very much. I intend to use the,
“Business Plan Check List” given to me by Dr. Wilson along with the
textbook titled Effective Small Business Management, An
Entrepreneurial Approach written by Dr. Zimmerer to help me in
creating my business from scratch. These two sources of information
are going to be the primary tools I will use in transforming my
“dream” bakery into a reality.

The look of delight and appreciation on my younger brother’s
face as I unveiled the 17th birthday cake that I had worked on all
day for him is what inspired me a few years ago. The sense of
comfort and contentment I feel when I am baking and the realization
that I can turn a childhood passion into a flourishing career is
what inspires me now. I chose to do this project because my bakery
is something I think about every single day. It is the first risk
in my life that I am willing to give and do anything for.
Personally, I hope to gain a clearer image of exactly what I need
to do to make my dream a reality.

Cameron, Andrea

Mentor: IaIn Duffy

Reader: Tom Arnold

Home remedies have always been a part of human culture. Some of
these home remedies have gone on to influence modern medicine.
Garlic has been a useful home remedy, and it was recently
investigated to contain, among its vast properties powerful
antimicrobial abilities. Further investigation showed that garlic
contained a compound called allicin which is a retardant of many
microorganisms. Strawberries have also been identified as
possessing antimicrobial properties. Extracts from strawberry have
been shown to contain inhibitory effect on various organisms.

The aim of my project is to investigate whether combining
strawberries and garlic has a cumulative effect on the
antimicrobial properties of each. Microorganisms will be chosen at
random and the antimicrobial effect of a solution of garlic and
strawberry versus garlic alone and strawberry only will be compared
by using the zone of inhibition of each solution as a measurement
of antimicrobial capabilities. The results will be presented in
various forms especially using line graphs.

Cawley, Dave

Mentor: Annie Clement

Reader: Chuck Fisk

The project that I’m proposing is disciplinary in the field of
Sport Management with a focus on player development in baseball. It
deals with Sabermetrics, which is a statistically analytical way to
measure the worth and value of players and strategies involving the
game of baseball. I hope to discover what the most efficient 25-man
roster would be if Major League Baseball instated a fantasy draft
and allotted me, as general manager of my own team, the first 25
picks in the draft, which ultimately would let me pick from the
entire labor market in major league baseball. I would discover this
only by concrete statistics and by using sabermetrics and through a
series of mathematical equations.

There will be a variety of recent and historical resources used
during this project including the historical Bill James writings,
as well as writings from members of baseball prospectus like Clay
Davenport. We’ll obviously also use databases to look up statistics
for players and past years. The reason I picked this topic is
because I love baseball. I have a series of goals I want to achieve
over my career and the highest is General Manager of a Major League
Baseball team. What gives me this hope is that J.P. Richardi is the
General Manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, Saint Leo University
graduate, and disciple of Bill James and Sabermetrics. By better
understanding the concepts of Sabermetrics I will present myself
with a better opportunity of working in player development further
down the road.

Clements, Carter

Mentor: Frank Arnold

Reader: Stephen Baglione

My Senior Honors project is going to be something that is going
to involve my studies in my major field of study, management. I
have decided to do research and make a full plan on the starting
and running of a restaurant. I am going to make a plan on starting
the restaurant from ground zero and will use the knowledge that I
have attained through the management program to do my work. I will
go into all areas of the business start up such as financial
concerns, licenses, staffing, marketing, management strategy and
many other areas. My studies in the field of management will give
me an extreme amount of help in knowing what to do and what it
takes to manage a business.

My research will consist of doing and internet and library
search on literature and any resource that will give me information
on the do’s and don’ts of starting a business. I will also go to
restaurants in the area that have started their business from
ground zero. I already have on resource to go to of someone in the
area. In my research I will not only get the formal structure of
starting the business but I will try to get the mental aspect of
staring and running the business. This is an aspect of business and
ownership that is necessary and is very important.

I was inspired to do this project because it is something that I
have always wanted to do. I plan on working in the business field
for a while but then in the further away future I want to own and
run my own restaurant. I like the idea of having a business that
makes people happy and gives them a place to retreat to in hard
times or go to to have fun with friends. Restaurants have always
been a place that make me happy and remind me of good times. To be
able to provide that for people on a daily basis has always been a
dream of mine. This project will give me a foundation from which to
work form in order to make this dream come true.

Colon, Mariel

Mentor: Patrick Draves

Reader: Kevin Kieffer

This is an interdisciplinary project involving the disciplines
of education and psychology. I want to work with a professor in the
area of educating others in the field of psychology. This will
involve introduction to psychology classes, and other undergraduate
courses as well as night time graduate psychology courses. I will
sit in on classes assessing teaching methods and the response of
the students as well as prepare short 10 minute lectures and
various active learning activities relating to class subjects. A
final analysis of the psychology department will also be generated
proposing changes that would help the students as well as what is
positive about the Saint Leo University psychology department. The
resources I will be using ill include the class textbooks, as well
as articles from Teaching Psychology journal and assistance from my
mentor and second reader. What inspired me to pursue this project
was my future ambition to become a collegiate professor myself. I
except to attain a better understanding of what it is to be a
psychology professor and the preparation it entails. I also expect
to realize if teaching is what I really want to do and, if not,
perhaps fuel others potential future career ideas.

Costello, Michael

Mentor: Tony Esposito

Reader: Marco Rimanelli

The subject of my senior honors project is the civil war and
General Ulysses S. Grant. It will be a project to determine how
General Grant made a progressive change of his battle tactics
through the Civil War. The main purpose will be to see if this
change came through a conscious effort or whether it came through a
process of trial and error. The leadership of Grant will be
examined along with the circumstances that brought along this
series of changes. The hypothesis of this project is that Grant's
military evolution in the Civil War did indeed come through
conscious effort and not a process of trial and error. His ability
to recognize and change will be made evident in this paper. The
paper will show examples of Grant's ability in a time of crisis and
his willingness to create a plan that would eventually win the war.
My hope is to explore whether Grant was aware of the superiority of
the tactical defensive, and whether he consciously sought a way to
get beyond the need for a three-to-one manpower advantage to take
the offensive. As a primary source for this project I will use
Ulysses S. Grant's Memoirs to get first hand examples into the
mindset of the General. Also as a potential primary source I will
use the memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman as he played a
major role in the Union's victory. These two will go hand in hand
with other secondary sourced books on the Civil War that would show
the transition. The inspiration for this project comes from an
interest in the Civil War and what inspired the men who fought in
it that has stemmed from childhood experiences at battlefields
across the country. Through this project I hope to gain an insight
into the mind of the victorious general of the American Civil
War.

Davenport, Virginia

Mentor: Vicki Fredrickson

Reader:Fran Reidy

For my senior honors project I will analyze a gender equity
report that I am helping the athletic department put together. The
proper term is a historical gender equity report because it will be
showing the long-term trends over past years not just for this
year. In the past Saint Leo has been sued over issues having to do
with gender equity and Title IX. Title IX basically states that
athletic teams and participants based on gender should reflect the
student population of the college/university. The athletics
department has already started searching for and trying to gather
all the equity reports done in the past. After they finish getting
as many as they can find we will start creating a long-term report
to show a comparison from year to year. After that is finished we
will analyze that information and based on what it shows, if we are
truly compliant or not with our athletic teams and rosters, then I
will make recommendations and suggestions as to what direction we
as a university need to go in terms of our athletic department.

David, Renell

Mentor: Chris Miller

Reader: Thomas Arnold

This project is designed to:

Evaluate the recycling habits of students at Saint Leo
University (SLU) by means of a questionnaire.

Experimentally determine how much of the waste generated at SLU
is recyclable

Propose a recycling program to solve the waste problem at
SLU.

I'm saddened when I consider the cases of empty bottles I
dispose of every semester which could have been recycled. I'm also
amazed at the amount of waste I, as an individual, generate. These
two things have increased my interest in finding a way to recycle
the waste that is being generated. Why throw away something that
can be reused! Thus, I propose that SLU generates more than 50%
recyclables which can be effectively recycled. This project will
heighten my awareness of the problems involved in proper recycling.
It will also assist me in showing how not recycling will eventually
affect us, not only as human beings, but as SLU students.

El Amrani, Karol

Mentor: Jose Coll

Reader: Cindy Lee

Perceptions of aging of in older adults compared to young adults
with a relationship to perceived life satisfaction.

Gibson, Andrew

Mentor: Tony Esposito

Reader: Earl Echon

The purpose of this project is to put together a paper on the
subject of woodworking. The paper is to include a considerable
section to help people who are interested in the craft to be able
to learn and understand the basic techniques and skills needed to
complete a project of their own design. The paper will also have
sections on selecting tools for a shop, and discussing the creative
aspect of design; with the purpose of helping the reader develop
his/her own personal style of work without becoming stuck in a
cookie cutter design philosophy. Illustration of the philosophies
behind many of the ideas and techniques used by woodworkers today
and from the past will be included. The book will follow my
personal process of designing and building a one of a kind chest of
drawers, while sharing the philosophy of such woodworkers as Sam
Maloof and the "soul" of the work, as well as the ideas of the
Shaker community and their ideas on simplicity. The goal is to
employ techniques ranging from beginner to advanced while employing
the use of both modern power tools and antique hand tools. My goal
is to put together a paper that will help people to understand the
techniques used in working wood and the obsession behind the love
of the wood, the tools, and the techniques passed down from
generation to generation; the purpose it not to put together a step
by step manual on how to build a chest of drawers. A few of the
resources to be used include other publications on the subject and
art of woodworking, knowledge from professionals in the field of
woodworking, my own personal collection of tools, a selection of
domestic hardwood and secondary woods for the project planned, and
any other publications that may include insightful information on
the history of the tools or techniques employed. The ideas and
designs from cornerstone figures of woodworking will be used to
show different viewpoints of philosophy and design to the reader,
other than my own.

The inspiration for this project comes from my love for the
materials, the tools, and the art of the craft. Also my desire to
get new generations involved in woodworking and to keep the
techniques of designing and building handmade furniture alive.
Another reason for this undertaking is to honor the men who came
before me and influenced my desire to learn and grow as a
craftsman. Finally to honor a dear family friend named Ray Cook who
influenced my desire to take part in the craft, and has since
passed away.